Police Capture Lemur That Escaped From British Zoo

Red-ruffed lemur broke out of British zoo, disrupted traffic.

ByABC News
May 6, 2014, 4:50 PM
A lemur is seen on the side of the road in the United Kingdom in this undated photo posted to Twitter by Jonathan Hunt.
A lemur is seen on the side of the road in the United Kingdom in this undated photo posted to Twitter by Jonathan Hunt.
@LordJHunt/Twitter

April 6, 2014— -- Watch out for that lemur!

Startled drivers called police after they spotted what they thought was a monkey or a cat darting around the street in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom over the weekend.

The furry critter turned out to be a red-ruffed lemur that had escaped from the Colchester Zoo, BBC News reported.

One motorist said she spotted the lemur on her way to the supermarket on Sunday.

"It wasn't scared, it was just exploring and went and sat in a front garden," she told BBC News. "The police came straight away and the keeper came about 10 minutes later."

"We were told to get back in our car so we didn't scare it away," the motorist said.

Police threw bananas at the lemur to lure it in, one witness told the Essex County Standard.

The animal has been safely returned to the zoo, officials said.